Cignal threw its defensive blanket to frustrate Generika-Ayala, 25-15, 17-25, 25-18, 25-22, in the quarterfinals of the Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference on Saturday at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.

Filipino-American setter Alohi Robins-Hardy was the star of the show for the HD Spikers who tallied 16 blocks to coast to the semifinals of this prestigious women’s club league tourney that has Team Rebel Sports, SOGO, Eurotel, PCSO, Cocolife, UCPB Gen, Mueller, Senoh, Asics, Bizooku and One Sport as sponsors.

The HD Spikers will face Petron while F2 Logistics will Foton will collide with the winner between F2 Logistics and Sta. Lucia in the semifinals on this tourney that has ESPN5 and Kapatid TV5 as broadcast partners starting Tuesday at the Muntinlupa Sports Center.

Robins-Hardy had a spectacular display of all-around brilliance finishing with 19 excellent sets on top of 13 points while having seven of the HD Spikers 16 blocks.

Rachel Anne Daquis also led the charge with 14 points while Mylene Paat and Jovelyn Gonzaga nailed the finishing touches and added 12 and 10 points, respectively.

“We had enough preparation for this round and I told them that our fate is in our hands. They really gave everything,” said Cignal head coach Edgar Barroga. “Our two losses to Generika was also a factor. It was a challenge for us.

Paat and Gonzaga delivered the winning points when Cignal squandered a 23-18 lead in the fourth set as Generika-Ayala scored five straight unanswered points trimming it to just one, 23-22.

Paat nailed a kill to stop the bleeding, which was initially called as an attack error but head coach Edgar Barroga challenged the call and it went successful with the ball clearly hitting down the line for match point, before Gonzaga delivered the semis-clinching spiker.

The Lifesavers had the edge in attacking with a 47-42 advantage but they committed 27 errors and the HD Spikers’ blocking was formidable with a 16-5 differential.

Fiola Ceballos had 25 points laced with 17 digs and eight excellent receptions, while Patty Orendain added 11 markers only for Generika-Ayala, which finished fourth with an 8-6 win-loss record to fail winning the match that mattered most in their All-Filipino campaign.

“We want to finish on a high note,” said Reyes, who was part of the coaching staff when RC Cola-Army dominated the league with three straight titles four years ago. “Our pride is at stake. We will prepare hard against Sta. Lucia and make sure that we will bring home the 5th place trophy.”

“We finally showed what we lacked in our past three games,” said Foton coach Villet Ponce-de Leon. “This is a high-level tournament. Everybody has skills, everybody has a game. We really have to put our best foot forward every game if we want to reach our goal. We still have two games left where we have to be at our very best.”
Foton, true enough, came out firing right from the opening serve.

Fresh recruit Kim Dy spearheaded the assault, finishing with 10 kills for a total of 17 points while Stephanie Mercado and Arianna Angustia delivered 10 and nine points, respectively for the the Lady Clickers, who obviously had a hard time finding their groove due to lack of enough preparation.

“Kulang na kulang pa kami sa ensayo,” said Shopinas coach Ramil de Jesus, who led De La Salle Lady Spikers to numerous title runs in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines.

Honey Royse Tubino and Aby Praca nailed 14 and 12 points, respectively, for the Lady Stallions, who are playing under Mary Rose Prochina and Zenaida Chavez — the key stalwarts in the women’s national squad that won the gold medal in the Singapore Southeast Asian Games in 1993.